Rock Over Boston: Buffalo Tom 25th Anniversary | Night 2

[Buffalo Tom and guests at the Brighton Music Hall, Allston, MA 11/26/2011. Photos by Michael Piantigini.]

Buffalo Tom's 25th Anniversary celebration rolled on last night with night two of their three game series (night one report here). There was no dip in intensity (25 years? No biggie!) and the band dug out a few more nuggets for us diehards. Can't remember the last time I heard them play "Mountains of Your Head" or "Would Not Be Denied" and they were well worth the wait. In fact, there was relatively few repeats, outside of a couple of their firmly ensconced setlist hits.

Bill Janovitz appeared to be having more fun than ever on guitar - shaking, bending, and flailing his SGs, sending them screaming through his pair of Marshall's. J who?

So, no, there was no repeat visit from J Mascis, but Mission of Burma loop man and Shellac (and former Volcano Suns) bassist Bob Weston handled the low end for "Rachael," freeing up Chris Colbourn to be the frontman we didn't know he had inside him. Ted Leo - fresh from a performance at Occupy Boston - reprised his guest shot on "Reason Why," but not before his surprising cameo on "Crutch" (and did another short opening set). Phil Aiken, who put in some time on keyboards with Buffalo Tom back around their Smitten album, sat in on a few songs where those parts have long been missed. Members of Boston anthem-rockers Mean Creek, who opened the night, helped out on "Would Not Be Denied," and "Sodajerk," and Fuzzy's Chris Toppin and Hilken Mancini came back with their repeat business as well.

TV's Mike O'Malley was back for "The Seeker" too - but this time he was fronting a lineup that had two-time Red Sox World Series GM, newly christened Chicago Cubs GM, and recent Boston ex-pat Theo Epstein on guitar, reportedly just back from his high school reunion ("Oh, those old things? Those are just my World Series rings!"). I tried to get a "let's go Red Sox" chant going, but there were no takers.

Series finale tonight. Whaddaya got?

Buffalo Tom at Brighton Music Hall 11/26/2011:
Staples
Taillights Fade
Rachael - with Bob Weston
Guilty Girls
Would Not Be Denied - with Chris Keene from Mean Creek
Sodajerk - with Aurore Ounjian from Mean Creek
Mountains of Your Head
Your Stripes - with Chris Toppin
Mineral
CC and Callas
Darl - with Hilken Mancini
Crutch - with Ted Leo
Reason Why - with Ted Leo
She's Not Your Thing
Arise, Watch
You'll Never Catch Him
Tangerine
Scottish Windows - with Phil Aiken
Treehouse - with Chris Toppin, Hilken Mancini, and Phil Aiken
--
Wiser - with Chris Toppin and Phil Aiken
The Seeker - with Mike O'Malley and Theo Epstein
Larry
I'm Allowed

Buffalo Tom: Tubes | Facebook | Twitter

-Michael Piantigini

Review: Line Drawings | Take/Over

What alchemy transforms a good indie guitar band into a great indie guitar band? There must be myriad answers, and, in the case of Line Drawings, fronter and guitarist Pat Haid says it all comes down to the simple fact that the quartet tried harder this time around. But even so the substantial leap forward demarcated by the Sydney, Australia-based quartet's recently issued debut full-length Take/Over sparks speculation: where the hell did these guys come from, all of a sudden?

Crystalline guitars, vocals desperate and resigned, punchy drumming, atmospheric synth: these are the building blocks of a great sound, and Line Drawings arrange same with artfullness and restraint. Sure, it would be foolish to discount the roles respected Australian producer Wayne Connolly's mixing and production and Bob Weston's mastering play in elevating these recordings, but it comes down to excellent songwriting and credible performances. The indie rock concern's self-titled 2009 EP was good (the thing sold out, although Mr. Haid admits it was not much more than a demo), but Take/Over's emotional impact and sparkling production declare the quartet has mastered its form.

All of Take/Over, which was preceded in May by the single "Sleeplines" b/w "Twist And Go (Merry Go Round Version)," builds to the crescendo that is the relentlessly cascading, pensive album closer "Disremembering." As the song enters its thundering sixth minute Line Drawings sound determined to bring resolution to the proceedings by force. The collection commences with the catchy, uptempo and slightly discordant rocker "Fly" and continually lands punches that pack both power and pop sense. "Twist And Go" bounces with a flavor similar to the late, great The Godrays' "Both Your Names (Janus' Creepy Girlfriend)." "Sleeplines" crunches with effortless cool into a powerful chorus smothered under buzzing rhythm guitar and popping and buoyant lead lines that recall the work of Archers Of Loaf's Eric Johnson. Take/Over was issued in June in Australia and New Zealand by Other Tongues; North Americans can buy the set from ITunes here.

Line Drawings - Interstate

High Wires by Linedrawings

Still Frames by Linedrawings

Line Drawings: Internerds | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr

Today's Hotness: Soars, The Grownup Noise, Sleepies

>> We were surprised to see that rising dream-pop concern Soars is based out of the Lehigh Valley in our native Pennsylvania, because the only products of that area of which we are familiar are the decidedly not-dream-pop acts The Original Sins/Brother JT and Weston. And the last time we were in the Bethlehem/Allentown area we were staying in a hotel packed with kids in town for a hardcore festival. So we dashed off a communiquĕ to our source in Bethlehem, and he assured me that, indeed, things are happening there, good things, shoegazey, psychedelic things. After berating our source for not apprising us earlier, we sat down with Soars' pending self-titled full-length. We can report that it is wonderful -- better than even the very nice preview track "Throw Yourself Apart," posted below, indicates. Across the record there's substantial nuance both in dynamics and style, including a throw-back Gothic gloom that we don't hear many of Soars' musical peers referencing these days. Soars will be released by La Société Expéditionnaire Oct. 5 on CD and colored vinyl. The quartet has a half-dozen live engagements confirmed, and we're posting them below.

Soars -- "Throw Yourself Apart" -- Soars
[right click and save as]
[pre-order Soars from La Société Expéditionnaire right here, eventually]

08.10 -- Gooskies -- Pittsburgh, PA
08.11 -- Ball Hall -- Chicago, IL
08.13 -- Glasslands -- Brooklyn, NY
09.30 -- The Burners -- Bethlehem, PA
10.01 -- Glasslands -- Brooklyn, NY
10.20 -- CMJ Showcase -- New York, NY

>> We were minding our own business a year ago seeing favorites Varsity Drag along when we realized we were witnessing a pretty impressive performance by an opener with which we were completely unfamiliar. The band was The Grownup Noise, they were (are) local, and they were kicking off a national tour. We exchanged raised eyebrows of approval with Mr. Piantigini, and made mention of the set right here. The Grownup Noise's music is a little more singer-songwritery than what we typically go for, but we find it compelling nonetheless, and stand by our assessment from exactly one year ago today, except for maybe the Buckner part: "The band blends the voice of Richard Buckner, the cello work from Built To Spill and indie hooks filtered through a cracking pop sense, which for some reason made us think of Paul Simon." Coincidentally, The Grownup Noise are about to head out on tour -- its fifth -- again, and bassist Adam Sankowski has shared with us the quartet's pending EP Shall We?, which it will be promoting while the finishing touches are applied to the band's next full-length (both the EP and full-length were recorded with Scott Solter, who has also worked on records you've heard by Spoon and Okkervil River). Shall We? is replete with light, bright and mostly piano-led indie pop. We're a fan of all five songs, particularly "Six Foot Solemn Oath" and its vocal interplay between fronter Paul Hansen and cellist Katie Franich. But below we're posting the solo, guitar-centric ballad "Outside," which conveys a resonant poignancy and solitude, and also features a memorable phrase we've always loved from All About Chad's "I Can't Sleep." The Grownup Noise kick off its tour with a local gig July 31 at Lizard Lounge, and we expect you'll be able to buy the new EP from them that evening. Full tour dates are posted at the band's MySpazz.

The Grownup Noise's "Outside"

>> Garagey pop-punk trio Sleepies got in touch this month to introduce themselves, and we've listened to their recent self-titled set quite a bit. What we keep returning to over and over is the raucous closer "Housewife." The song commences with a shouted count-off and then unleashes a scritchy torrent of uptempo rock that reminds us of very early Superchunk a touch. The chorus is a shouter, a real beer-hall anthem. Sleepies was released by the band in May, and you can buy the set directly from them right here. The trio was cool enough to permit us to offer "Housewife," surely its strongest calling card, so check it out below. Sleepies has two hometown shows on the books: Aug. 4 at Death By Audio and Aug. 13 at The Acheron, both in Brooklyn.

Sleepies' "Housewife"

That Was The Show That Was: Mission Of Burma | Paradise Rock Club

It is consistently tempting to lead a piece about a Mission Of Burma show with some acknowledgment of the band's age. This, of course, is due to the fact that few -- if any -- bands have been able to write strong material and offer electrifying performances into middle age (of course, the band did have a nineteen-year break). Today's elder statesmen of commercial rock (Mick, Keef, Pete, Paul, Bob etc.) are largely expected to underperform, and endeavor in excercises that only occasionally redeem themselves. But Mission Of Burma's remarkable resuscitation in 2002 has proved so artistically successful that it calls into question not how is it that one of the best bands going be comprised of middle-aged guys, but why is it that so few performers of the vintage of Messrs. Conley, Miller and Prescott produce -- and recreate live -- compelling, intelligent and powerful music? Put more simply: why does everybody else who sticks with rock music for the long haul suck, when Burma made it look so easy last night?

Thursday night was the first of a handful of dates this summer during which Mission Burma performs one of its two landmark pre-caesura commercial releases in its entirety. Our friend KoomDogg attended Thursday night's re-enactment of Signals, Calls & Marches and dubbed it a "kicking of the ass" in an email to us the next morning [read his review here]. At 11:30 last night the storied Boston trio hit a spine-tingling crescendo as it powered through "That's How I Escaped My Certain Fate" and closed its performance of its 1982 full-length Vs. The deservedly hyped performance of the album front-to-back was the centerpiece of about 90 minutes of music that included two encores. The performers were loose, Prescott was typically loquacious and irreverent, old scenesters were in the house (and on-stage between sets) and Burma did not disappoint anywhere along the sonic strand from "Secrets" to "Fate;" "Weatherbox" got a particularly bracing workout. The encores included "Devotion" from Signals, Calls & Marches and highpoints from the band's 2004 set The Obliterati "2wice," "Spider's Web" and "Let Yourself Go." All the while the band hopped, howled, swore, stomped and grew sweat circles across their shirts.

Mission Of Burma continues its sporadic schedule of promotional dates for the reissues tonight in New York; we've listed all the dates we're aware of below. We shot some pictures of last night's show and you can check them out here. We're no great shakes with a camera, but this should give you an idea of what it was like pressed against the front of Conley's side of the stage with the house-sound woofers pushing the air so hard at pants level that our pants were jarred with each kick drum thud.

Mission Of Burma -- "This Is Not A Photograph" -- Signals, Calls & Marches
[right click and save as]
[buy the reissues of Signals, Calls & Marches, Vs., and The Horrible Truth About Burma from Matador right here]

Mission Of Burma: Internets | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr

06/14 -- Bowery Ballroom -- New York, NY (Signals, Calls & Marches)
06/15 -- Bowery Ballroom -- New York, NY (Vs.)
06/27 -- First Unitarian Church -- Philadelphia, PA (Signals, Calls & Marches)
06/28 -- Black Cat -- Washington, D.C. (Vs.)
07/18 -- Pitchfork Festival -- Chicago, IL (Vs.)
07/19 -- Bohemian National Home -- Detroit, MI (Signals, Calls & Marches)